CHAPTER 72: NEW WORLD’S PROMISE

[A.N Next few Chapters might be a bit weird to read, need to do lots of heavy editing as there’s lots of nationalism]

Not only did Tony post the video on Twitter, but he also uploaded it to Youtube with new account dedicated to New World Studio, complete with a introduction video about its new game platform.

The jaw dropping scene of him standing atop the colossal Sea Dragon Leviathan as it soared through the skies it instantly stunned everyone.

Riding a dragon had always been every man’s dream. And this guy actually pulled it off.

Without a doubt, Tony’s video exploded in popularity. It rocketed straight to the top of Twitter’s trending within hours, amassing millions views. Celebrities and people alike all reposted it.

The truth was, Subnautica was simply too popular. Nobody, celebrity or not, could resist the lure of exploring alien worlds in VR.

With the video going viral, people worldwide wasted no time heading for the New World official website.

Traffic surged instantly, millions visits per minute. Any ordinary site would have crashed on the spot. Even major companies usually had to run stress tests and keep teams on standby to handle this kind of flood.

But the New World site wasn’t running on ordinary servers, it was backed by a system, upgraded through blueprints given by it. The endless wave of clicks didn’t even cause a hiccup.

The layout was clean and minimalistic, a luminous starfield background, a button to register an account, and a download link for the New World Game Platform V1.0.

It wasn’t flashy, Tony had only just launched it, after all, but it got the job done.

Around the world, countless users clicked download without hesitation.

Soon, the software was installed, and that’s when players realized the New World platform wasn’t a normal launcher. It was fully VR-based. You couldn’t even use it without a VR headset.

"What kind of company makes even the platform VR?" Confused, but intrigued, players donned their headsets and entered.

The moment they connected, their surroundings shifted dramatically. They found themselves in a vast, empty, pure-white room, eerily reminiscent of the training room from ’The Matrix’.

What was the dev planning this time?

Before they could guess, a crisp click echoed in the space. A white door swung open... and she walked in.

Long, silky black hair draped over her shoulders. Amber eyes glimmered under thick lashes. Her combat vest hugged her curves, while her black leather shorts revealed legs so long and flawless they looked sculpted.

Her body was pure temptation, yet her face was as innocent and radiant as an angel’s. It was the perfect union of heaven and sin.

The instant she appeared, the atmosphere changed, especially for the male players. Eyes widened. Mouths fell open. Hearts skipped beats.

"Holy crap, did he really design this?!"

"Tsk, she’s perfect!"

"I finally get why he didn’t use OldGerson’s art... this is on another level."

"Angel’s face, devil’s figure. I’m in love."

"She belongs in the heavens, not here. I can’t believe this exists, even in VR!"

Grievances players had against Tony melted away. In that moment, all they saw was the woman before them.

She stepped forward with an easy, playful grace, hands folded behind her back, and smiled. "Hello, players. My name is Tifa," she said, her voice sweet and crystal clear. "I’ll be assisting you and managing your platform."

The name alone sparked a fresh wave of excitement, Tifa. It sounded warm, personal...

"Now," she continued, "let me introduce you to what will be the New World platform."

She waved her hand, and in an instant, the world around the players transformed.

The players who had been busy admiring Tifa suddenly realized they were no longer standing in the white room.

Instead, they were soaring through the sky, ten thousand feet above the ground, the wind whipping past their faces.

Below them stretched an endless, glittering ocean.

Several players gasped in shock, some clutching their chests as if afraid they might fall. Was this... the world of Subnautica again?

But within moments, they realized something was different. In the distance lay not endless sea, but a sprawling piece of land, and on that land rose a modern, bustling metropolis.

Towering skyscrapers lined the skyline, crisscrossing roads cut through the city like veins, and the ground was alive with activity. As they continued flying, they passed over a golden beach where crowds in swimsuits laughed and played, jet skis zipped across the waves, volleyballs flew through the air, and the warm sunlight glimmered off the sand.

"You can take a leisurely seaside vacation here," Tifa’s voice rang in their ears, light and cheerful. "Or you could experience a thrilling high-altitude skydive."

Before they could even process her words, a loud whipping noise filled the air.

A helicopter roared past them, its side door sliding open. A man in a parachute harness stepped to the edge, shouted something the wind stole away, and leapt. He spun midair, doing somersaults as he plunged toward the ocean.

"Or perhaps... high speed racing, complete with police chases," Tifa’s voice teased.

The world shifted again, and the players suddenly found themselves behind the wheel of a roaring Lamborghini. The scenery blurred on both sides as they sped down the road, the engine’s growl vibrating in their bones. In the rearview mirror, the flashing lights of several police cars grew larger and larger.

Before the players could even shout, the world morphed once more.

Now they stood in the middle of a packed nightclub, the air thick with flashing lights and pounding bass. The crowd moved like a single living thing, bodies pressed close, dancing with abandon.

"Here, you can leave all your real world worries behind," Tifa continued warmly. "Chat, gamble, dance, meet players from across the world, no matter their background. Relax. Indulge. Enjoy the game."

Her smile softened. "Of course, at its heart, the platform exists for one purpose, playing games. Every New World title will be available here, free to play."

The moment her voice fell, the nightclub dissolved around them. Images flickered rapidly before their eyes, one moment they stood in the middle of a zombie apocalypse, the next they marched in the ranks of a mighty ancient army, and the next they sailed aboard colossal warships drifting in the void of space.

"This," Tifa’s voice grew louder, brimming with passion, "is the future of the New World platform. It’s not just a launcher, it’s a city. A world of freedom, greater than reality itself!

"And everything we build, will be together with you."

Her amber eyes sparkled. "Stay tuned."

The scene faded, and the players found themselves once again in the featureless white room. The short film, barely three minutes long, had ended.

But its impact lingered.

Only now did the players begin to fully grasp the sheer ambition behind New World.

A game platform?

No. This was a fully realized virtual city.

Within hours of Tony releasing the New World platform, the global internet was in uproar. Every forum, every social feed buzzed with a single name: New World.

"Holy crap, they’re actually trying to turn gaming into VR world!"

"If this is even half as real as the trailer, it’s basically creating a second world for humanity!"

"This guy, he’s a legend!"

"That short video gave me goosebumps... I need to try this now!"

"Could this be... the start of a new era for mankind?"

The project’s scope stunned players and ordinary people alike, but it also caught the attention of every major tech giant on the planet.

Within minutes of the release, those companies executives had quietly downloaded the platform themselves. What they experienced left them shaken.

At NetPack’s headquarters, an emergency meeting was called. The room was filled with high ranking executives, including Owner himself. The atmosphere was heavy, no one spoke at first.

They had all just watched the New World short film in VR.

Three minutes had been enough to rattle their minds completely.

Shock was their first reaction. The second was... fear.

"This is too ambitious," one executive finally said, his voice trembling. "The manpower and resources needed... it’s just unrealistic."

Another quickly agreed. "Right. This is just a big marketing stunt. We do this too, make grand promises to grab attention. Whether they can actually deliver... well, that’s another story."

The others nodded. The vision was incredible, yes, but until it became reality, it was just words and images.

But then the Owner spoke. "Have you noticed something about their official website?"

The executives looked at him blankly.

"In the past few hours, that site has taken hundreds of millions of hits. I’ve even heard reports that multiple hacker groups have tried to take it down."

The room stirred. No one had expected that, but given how New World threatened so many interests, maybe it wasn’t surprising.

"With that level of traffic and constant attacks," he continued, frowning, "even our official site would crash temporarily. But theirs? Not even a hiccup. Smooth as silk. That means their network infrastructure is top tier, possibly beyond ours."

He leaned back in his chair. "If they have a technical team that good, I wouldn’t be surprised if they could actually make that vision happen."

The room fell silent again.

Finally, someone asked, "So what do we do? We can’t find the studio, so we can’t buy them out. Should we... copy it?"

"Copy it?" another scoffed. "If it were that easy, we’d have copied Subnautica already."

One executive sighed. "Then we just sit and watch them grow?"

The Owner’s eyes narrowed. "Not necessarily. We could... influence public opinion."

He smiled thinly. "Subnautica is impressive, yes, but also too real. Those sea monsters are terrifying. What if children play it and end up traumatized? What will parents say then?"

"And the blood, it’s red, not green. Completely inappropriate!"

He tapped the table. "There’s plenty we can use there..."

1694 Words.